Hump Day is Here

My 5th grade teacher Ms. Llorca

Today is hump day which means it is half way through the week.

School today was the best day yet. The lunch ladies in the cafeteria were pretty cool and my Mom thinks that maybe a parent complained and now they are being nicer to us all. I hope that this is true.

Another good thing about today is that we got dismissed early at 1:50 pm. This happens every Wednesday.

After school my Mom picked me up and we walked down to the Regal Cinema on Lincoln Street and we saw "Spy Kids II - All the Time in the World". I really enjoyed it. We also got to have popcorn and some orange pop.

After that we went home and got ready for Feinberg Fisher's Open House. The Open House is something that they have every year and is a chance for parents to talk to the teachers and explore the school. We walked back up to the school at 5:30 pm and headed into my classroom. My Mom sat down to fill in some forms and I went to find my friend Atman. But before I headed out my Mom took a picture of me and my teacher Ms. Llorca that you see above. She is a great teacher and I like her a lot.

Ms. Llorca gave a talk to the parents about school rules and expectations. I got to hang out with my friends and play on our PSPs.

When the meeting was over my Mom and I went for dinner at Oliver's Bistro. This is a restaurant that is close to our apartment and the first place we had lunch at after we moved in. It is the second best restaurant (to me) in Miami. I like it a lot.

Just have two more days at school until there is a three day weekend. Whoo-hoo!

I hope that tomorrow will be as good as today!

M.

A Good Weekend and a New Week

A new week is here.

This past weekend was a very good weekend. On Friday night we went out to the set and visited my Dad while he was working. It was pretty cool to see the "angels" working. One of the girls who plays Abby came over to introduce herself to us. Her real name is Rachel and she is from Melbourne, Australia and she was very nice and friendly.

We also met the guy who plays Bosley. His name is Ramon and he was really cool too.

We got to check out some of the sets and in this one room there were these two walls that flip around to make a big video screen. This set was the office where all of Charlie's Angels hang out.

On Saturday I went on a location scout with my Dad. It was supposed to be just for a couple of hours but then it ended up being almost 5 hours. We did end up stopping at Target on the way home and my Dad bought me a new Halo set. It is awesome.

On Sunday my Dad and I went to see the movie "Cowboys and Aliens" (14A, 2 hours long). I really, really, really liked it.

After the movie we came home, had a swim in the pool, had BLTs for dinner and then we all walked up to the beach around 6 pm. We had a swim in the ocean and it was really fun. Even my Mom came in the water which is very unusual. The picture above is of me at the beach last night.

More tomorrow.

M

PS I recommend the move Cowboys and Aliens.

The Weekend At Last!

Walking home from school on Friday

It is finally Friday and that means that I made it through my first week of school. Today, school-wise, it was the best day of the week. I was really nervous about going to school today but it turned out to be pretty great.

Here is how the day went:

Both my Mom and Dad were able to walk me to school because my Dad's crew call wasn't until 10:30 am.

When I got into my class we did math first followed by PE and Spanish. Yesterday Spanish class wasn't so good as everyone was speaking fluently and I didn't understand a single word that they were saying. I got a little bit upset and then the teacher came over and told me it was going to be okay and that she would move me to a different class where they speak some English as well as Spanish. Today in my new Spanish class we learned the words for the days of the week and months of the year. We also learned how to say hello...Hola!

After spanish class, we did a bit more math and then it was lunch. Lunch was better today because the lunch monitors didn't yell that much.

In the afternoon we did some reading. I read "Sideways Arithmetic From Wayside School", a novel by Louis Sacher. The book is about a girl who goes to a new school and they have add and subtract LETTERS! It is really a good book.

After reading we were bombarded with quizzes. We had a science quiz and a math quiz.

We looked at the clock at it was time to go to music which is in a classroom in another part of the school with a new teacher that I hadn't met yet. I was pretty nervous because everyone said that the music teacher was very mean and strict. But then I found out for myself that actually he was strict but also really friendly and so nice. He told us "If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with respect". I think that he is the best teacher in the whole school.

Next thing you know he dismissed us to go home. My Mom was there to meet me and the weekend began.

I will post more of my adventures over the weekend. 

M.

My New Favourite After School Snack.

Jicama sticks with lime and chilli

Okay, so I am not going to be talking too much about school today. It went well except for lunch in the cafeteria. My friend Atman, who sits next to me in class, was in the lunch line-up and went to the front of the line to check what the options were for lunch.  All of a sudden Ms ? (I don't know her name but she is the lunch monitor) yelled at him for leaving the line-up and she made him cry because she said he would have to eat in the principal's office for the rest of the year because he "misbehaved". But really he didn't do anything wrong. I felt so bad for him I almost wanted to cry myself. I didn't though. 

I am very afraid of Ms. ? (mean lunch monitor lady) but my Mom says not to worry and I also talked to my Grandma and she made me feel better too.

Now onto better subjects. And I mean better. 

My new favourite after school snack is jicama with lime and chilli. If you don't know what jicama is it is an edible tuberous root. It tastes crunchy and a little sweet and juicy. My Mom says that lots of Mexican kids eat it after school as well.

My Dad just got home and so I am going to go and watch an episode of "The Office" with him before I have to go to bed.

Good night.

M.

PS. After school I got some new running shoes and went swimming in the pool and we got take-out pizza for dinner.


PPS. I ran out of time to respond to your comments from yesterday but promise to do that tomorrow.

A Better Day Than Yesterday!

Working on my math homework after school

First off I want to thank everybody who took some time to comment on my last post. I really, really appreciate it. When I was feeling a bit sad yesterday it cheered me up to read all of the comments that people left for me. So thanks.

Today was a much, much, much better day. When I woke up in the morning I was still very nervous to go back to school. I was actually really dreading it.

But when I got to school I felt better and didn't even feel too bad when I said goodbye to my Mom.

Once school started we began with some math which I sort of like. Then after math we had PE with Mr. Berrin. I like PE better than math and I like being able to be outside. The only thing is that it is boiling hot outside (and I mean boiling) and we have to run back and forth on a field which makes me totally sweat.

After PE was lunch which was better than yesterday because:

1. I knew where to sit

2. People sat with me

3. My Mom made me a sandwich with my favourite kind of spicy meat

In the afternoon we had LA (language arts) and social studies until 2:55pm and then we got to go outside for recess (which was weird because it was really just the last 10 minutes of class).

My Mom met me after school and we walked back to the apartment. I got to play some video games and then I did my math homework and reading. And after dinner I did this post.

That is all for today!

M.

First Day at School

Today was my first day at Feinberg Fisher School. It was an okay day. First of all I woke up at 7 am, got up, got dressed in my new uniform and had some breakfast (two eggs, over easy with toast).

Then my Mom and Dad took me to school. We arrived a few minutes early and I saw a friend that I met on Saturday at the orientation named Jose. I headed up to my classroom right before the teacher, Ms. Llorca, got there. I headed in and said goodbye to my parents.

I got settled in at my new desk and met some of my new classmates.

It sure is different here at my school in Miami Beach. Here are a couple of things that are very different from home:

First up in the morning you need to sing the national anthem with your right hand over your heart. Luckily I watch a lot of hockey and so I know it pretty well.

There is no recess before lunch like at home. Even at lunch you just need to eat your lunch and go right back to school. No time to run around before going back to class.

At lunchtime I lined up in the cafeteria but then realized that because I had my own lunch from home I didn't need to. Then I wasn't sure where I should sit in the cafeteria. I asked a teacher where I should sit and she told me but then I was sitting all by myself and then I felt sad. I was worried than nobody wanted to sit with me but then I realized that all of my classmates were still in the hot lunch line-up. Soon I was joined by some classmates and this made me feel much better.

After lunch we headed straight back to the classroom with no break. I was kind of weirded out by that. When we got back in I finished off some work that I had started in the morning and then we continued on to math. The actual school work didn't seem that hard to me.

The day went by very quickly and so soon the bell rang, the day was over and my Mom was there to meet me. We walked home from school and I got a chocolate milkshake on the way.

Tomorrow I still don't know what to expect but I hope that it will be a good day.

Bye for now,

M.

Sunday in Miami

A view of our Apartment Building from the Pool

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I am a little bit nervous and a little bit excited. The school that I am going to is called Feinberg Fisher and goes from Kindergarten to grade 8.

Yesterday morning, at 9 am, my Dad, Mom and I went to the school orientation. We learned a bunch of stuff about the school.

We learned that:
Even if you are only 1 minute late you need to go to the office to get a late slip
There are approximately 900 students at Feinberg Fisher
My classroom is #26
My teacher's name is Ms. Llorca

Another random fact about Feinberg Fisher is that the author Judy Blume went here for a couple of years when she was a kid and she wrote a book called "Staring Sally J. Friedman as Herself" which is loosely based on her experiences here. I had to read this for my new school and I really, really liked the book.

One thing that is very different about this school is that you have to wear a uniform. The uniform is a blue or red polo or tee-shirt with khaki coloured shorts.

Wish me luck at school tomorrow, I will let you guys know how it goes.

M

Some fun and not so fun things about Miami...

Not everything is fun in Miami Beach. Yesterday I had to go to the doctor to have a shot and some blood tests done. The reason for this is that you can't go to school here unless you have a full check-up at the doctor's office which includes a TB test and a blood test to see if you have anemia. I really, really, really hate shots!

I was pretty relieved when it was all done.

Another thing that is not so fun about Miami is that the school year starts 2 weeks earlier than it does in Vancouver. I start school on Monday, August 22. The name of my school here is Feinberg Fisher and it is about a 20 minute walk away from our apartment. It is much bigger than my old school.

Now, back to some good things about Miami. Yesterday, I did a gigantic set up with all of my HALO mega blocks. You can see me working on it in the picture above.

I also went to the pool yesterday and then me and my Mom went to Whole Foods to get groceries and I got to get some orange pop.


Well that's it for today, see ya!

M

We are in Miami!

Today is our 3rd day in Miami beach.
Yesterday there was a giant thunder and lightening storm. It was pretty cool.
We also are settling to our new apartment. I have never lived in an apartment building before so it is a bit different for me. But the way it feels for me is that we are living in a big hotel room. The apartment is on the 28th floor and it has a great view of Miami. There are two bedrooms and I got the one with the TV!
There is a nice kitchen for my Mom to cook in and the living room is big and there is a great balcony with a great view.
The above picture is of me on our balcony.
Another cool thing about living in this apartment is that there is a pool. The pool was closed yesterday but is open today and so I am heading to the pool now. Bye.

M

Hello!

Welcome to Max, Miami and Beyond. This is my first post ever. I hope you enjoy! Yesterday, I turned 10. In two days, I'm moving to Miami Beach, Florida. There's been a lot of excitement and nervousness lately. I'll let you know how it all goes down the the next few days.
M.W.